If you don’t lead, you follow. If you don’t follow, you’re doomed. Hello Microsoft.

[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]There is no doubt that Apple is leading the tablet industry. They have innovated the hardware and software and made an unpopular concept a huge success.

Others have seen this and followed Apple’s lead. Samsung, Google, RIM, HP, and others are all entering the market. Microsoft, however, isn’t ready to step in.

Speaking at a lunch in Australia held by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, Microsoft’s global chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie said he wasn’t sure if the iPad would “remain with us or not.”

It’s almost like Mundie was planted by Apple to advise Steve Ballmer to not enter the tablet market. I mean, really, could Apple have asked for anything more?

Mundie apparently believes that the smartphone will be “your most personal computer.” The laptop, as he sees it, is a “portable desk.”

“I think there’s an important distinction — and frankly one we didn’t jump on at Microsoft fast enough — between mobile and portable,” said Mundie.

So, knowing that you missed the boat the first time around, I guess the thing to do this time is to watch that boat pass you by again.